2006 Code of Virginia § 10.1-1411 - Regional and local solid waste management plans

10.1-1411. Regional and local solid waste management plans.

A. The Board is authorized to promulgate regulations specifying requirementsfor local and regional solid waste management plans.

To implement regional plans, the Governor may designate regional boundaries.The governing bodies of the counties, cities and towns within any region sodesignated shall be responsible for the development and implementation of acomprehensive regional solid waste management plan in cooperation with anyplanning district commission or commissions in the region. Where a county,city or town is not part of a regional plan, it shall develop and implement alocal solid waste management plan in accordance with the Board's regulations.For purposes of this section, each region or locality so designated shallconstitute a solid waste planning unit.

B. The Board's regulations shall include all aspects of solid wastemanagement including waste reduction, recycling and reuse, storage,treatment, and disposal and shall require that consideration be given to thehandling of all types of nonhazardous solid waste generated in the region orlocality. In promulgating such regulations, the Board shall consider urbanconcentrations, geographic conditions, markets, transportation conditions,and other appropriate factors and shall provide for reasonable variances andexemptions thereto, as well as variances or exemptions from the minimumrecycling rates specified herein when market conditions beyond the control ofa county, city, town, or region make such mandatory rates unreasonable.

C. The Board's regulations shall permit the following credits, provided thatthe aggregate of all such credits permitted shall not exceed five percentagepoints of the annual municipal solid waste recycling rate achieved for eachsolid waste planning unit:

1. A credit of one ton for each ton of recycling residue generated inVirginia and deposited in a landfill permitted under subsection M of 10.1-1408.1;

2. A credit of two percentage points of the minimum recycling rate mandatedfor the solid waste planning unit for a source reduction program that isimplemented with the solid waste planning unit. The existence and operationof such a program shall be certified by the solid waste planning unit;

3. A credit of one ton for each ton of any solid waste material that isreused; and

4. A credit of one ton for each ton of any nonmunicipal solid waste materialthat is recycled.

D. Each solid waste planning unit shall maintain a minimum recycling rate formunicipal solid waste generated within the solid waste planning unit pursuantto the following schedule:

1. Except as provided in subdivision 2, each solid waste planning unit shallmaintain a minimum 25% recycling rate; or

2. Each solid waste planning unit shall maintain a minimum 15% recycling rateif it has (i) a population density rate of less than 100 persons per squaremile according to the most recent United States Census, or (ii) a notseasonally adjusted civilian unemployment rate for the immediately precedingcalendar year that is at least 50% greater than the state average as reportedby the Virginia Employment Commission for such year.

After July 1, 2007, no permit for a new sanitary landfill, incinerator, orwaste-to-energy facility, or for an expansion, increase in capacity, orincrease in the intake rate of an existing sanitary landfill, incinerator, orwaste-to-energy facility shall be issued until the solid waste planning unitwithin which the facility is located has a solid waste management planapproved by the Board in accordance with the regulations, except as providedin this subsection. Failure to attain a mandated municipal solid wasterecycling rate shall not be the sole cause for the denial of any permit orpermit amendment, except as provided herein for sanitary landfills,incinerators, or waste-to-energy facilities, provided that all components ofthe solid waste management plan for the planning unit are in compliance withthe regulations. The provisions of this subsection shall not be applicable topermits or permit amendments required for the operation or regulatorycompliance of any existing facility, regardless of type, nor shall it because for the delay of any technical or administrative review of pendingamendments thereto.

If a county levies a consumer utility tax and the ordinance provides thatrevenues derived from such source, to the extent necessary, be used for solidwaste disposal, the county may charge a town or its residents, establishmentsand institutions an amount not to exceed their pro rata cost, based uponpopulation for such solid waste management if the town levies a consumerutility tax. This shall not prohibit a county from charging for disposal ofindustrial or commercial waste on a county-wide basis, including thatoriginating within the corporate limits of towns.

(1986, c. 492, 10-274; 1987, c. 249; 1988, c. 891; 1989, c. 440; 1990, cc.574, 781; 1991, c. 237; 1995, c. 216; 1997, c. 495; 2006, cc. 7, 40.)